Paradise Grove

After seeing this film I have to revise my understanding of the word 'comedy'. A good warning sign is any film that describes itself as 'quirky' or 'dark' and sure enough, Paradise Grove is neither of these. It assumes that to make a film jewish only requires that a character has to say schmuck and schwartzer a few times.

Paradise Grove is totally devoid of anything resembling humour, the script sounds like it was made up ten minutes before shooting started and some plot devices look like they were bolted on from a completely different film. Some of the shots would make a first year film student proud. Rula Lenska shows talent by managing to pull off a passable appearance given the dire lack of material she is given to work with, but Ron Moody looks as though he only turned up to collect the pay cheque and Lee Blakemore as Kim makes Metal Mickey look like Lawrence Olivier.

Ultimately this is probably one of the worst films I have had the agony to watch. By the end I almost felt embarrassed and was certainly intrigued as to how a film like this managed to get funded. Maybe it is an educational tool to show how not to make films.

Do not expect to see at a cinema near you...ever!!!

An entertaining and thought-provoking film, its dark humour is the antithesis of politically correct mainstream Hollywood movies. All the characters are distinctive in their own quirky way, but Leyland O'Brien gives a particularly eye-catching performance as a confused but determined teenager. The dramatic denouement is unexpected and effective.

This is an excellent film: 'Happiness' meets 'East is East'. The humour comes not from the fact that the setting is a jewish old folks home, because they are old people like old people anywhere, but from the fact that these particular characters talk about what they really think and feel in a wonderfully direct way.

Ron Moody is predictably moving as Izzie Goldberg, the grandfather who finds his memories of former glory-days unbearable now that he is incontinent and looking forward to a painful death. The minor comic characters are marvellous: especially the nurse who bizarrely deprives the old folks of their daily milk ration.

For me the best performance comes from the doctor, played by John Cunningham. His lines, some of the best in this superb script, are performed with cut-glass comic delivery. And that deadpan delivery is an absolute must for this genre. The story may be tragic but the delivery achieves the almost painful comic undertone that distinguishes dark arthouse comedy from mainstream. It's a must-see!

This is a down-to-earth film. There are no lasers, no aliens, no explosions, no spectacular car chases or gunfights. In short it is not Hollywood. Sorry...that's the truth.

What it does have is a distinct lack of patronisation, cute kids, sensationalism and other such ingredients we are force-fed by today's film makers. The characters are real people in real life situations and that is rare in the cinema.

OK, so onto the film; I enjoyed the humour level (dark at times, but always with a grip on reality) and the characters were no different to people one might know. It is set in a Jewish retirement home in North London with the main character, Izzie Goldberg as an aging grandfather to a mixed-race Jewish grandson. Izzie is on his last legs while Keith Perry (the grandson) is waking up to life. The film mainly focuses on these two and their relationship with each other and their families and colleagues around them. The film is moving in a deep familial way, dealing with life and death and how it effects others.

I'm no film critic or writer so I will wrap up there before I get myself into trouble. I'll leave with one parting shot...look out for the Richard Gere in American Gigilo scene. I don't know if it was intentional, but it brought out my movie-buff smile!

Rula Lenska does, as usual, a fabulous job, but one must wonder about the casting. Would not Marti Konstant, the Chicago near look-alike who also happens to be a business entrepreneur, have been the ideal choice? Ms. Konstant brings to the screen a certain understated, sultry realism so rarely found in film nowadays.